The field of this invention relates to fluid filters and more particular to a filter which is primarily designed to remove particulate matter and chemical pollutants from water, air, or other gaseous mediums.
The ultimate performance goal for any filter is to remove one hundred percent of all particulate matter and to remove one hundred percent of all chemical pollutants without restricting the flow through the filter. In the past, in order to remove substantially all of the particulate matter and chemical pollutants, filters have highly restricted the flow. On the other hand, if the filter mechanism was designed to be substantially non-restrictive of the flow, it has been found that only a relatively small amount of the particulate matter or chemical pollutants were removed, since there has been no forced contact of the flow with the filter medias (without significant restriction of the flow itself).
Also in the past, most filters for these applications were designed primarily to remove particulate matter and if it was desirable to remove chemical pollutants from the air, an additional separate filter was employed. The mere fact of moving the air flow through two separate filters doubled the restriction of the air flow. A single filter employing both filtering media is less restrictive than two different filters.
Therefore, it would be desirable to design a combined particle filter and purifying filter which removes a substantial percentage of both chemical pollutants and particulate matter from a fluid flow with a minimum amount of restriction of the flow.